Hospital Romance
by Shadow of Midnight
Summary: NejiTen oneshot. He wakes up in the hospital after fighting Kidomaru and his teammate/crush is there. The catch, so is Hinata!


The boy on the bed lay perfectly still, barely breathing

In the hospital

The boy on the bed lay perfectly still, barely breathing. His long dark hair was fanned out on the pillow. The holes in his side and shoulder remained open. His discarded headband lay on the table next to him and the curse seal on his forehead was exposed. The teal sign was almost never uncovered. A door creaked and opened. A nurse showed a small black haired girl who nervously tapped her fingertips together in the room.

"Just for a little while, Hinata," she was saying "Neji-kun is in no state for visitors and he already has one here but since you're his family…" she left her sentence hanging. The girl by the bed looked up. Tenten's normally cheerful brown eyes were red and tearstained. She looked at the new arrival with an unreadable expression. She wasn't sure if she liked this cousin of Neji's who he hated so much for almost as long as she had known him. She knew why. The story of the Hyuuga family curse seal went through her mind every time she looked at Neji's forehead. Tenten could hear his voice, seeming in control to those who didn't know him, relating the story of why he was so bitter. She had heard clearly the anger and sorrow and brokenness the time he had told Naruto why he hated his cousin. Tenten knew Neji better then people thought. After a year of training together she had learned what made him sad and the memories that even he didn't want to think about.

Hinata hurried to Neji, choosing a spot next to Tenten. Tenten looked away. Hinata was worried about Neji. He went through life so alone and sad. She really cared about him and respected him for his courage. Even though it did not show Hinata truly loved her often irascible and angry cousin. Tenten continued to look away. Her eyes were locked on Neji's still, calm face, which was so unlike the activity in his face when he was conscious.

"He looks peaceful doesn't he?" Hinata's voice shattered Tenten's reflections. "I mean," she said, blushing, "he never looked happy around my family when I saw him before. Then he always looks angry and resentful." She headed off Tenten's reply that Neji had a right to hate her family by saying "He had every right. I know about the curse seal and what it does. It's inhuman, horrible. Its not fair for him to have it." Tenten looked surprised. Hinata-sama, as Neji called her, was a member of the Hyuuga _Main Family_ while Neji lived with the curse seal because he was a member of the Branch Family. She never expected her to seem to care about the boy. From what Neji had said he was a tool to the Main Family. Just there to protect them and obey implicitly. They lapsed in to silence. Tenten was remembering the words Neji had spoken when they had first become a team and how he had laughed at Lee for his enthusiasm and hope for his dreams. Hinata thought of her fight with Neji in the chunin exams.

Match 8, Hyuuga Neji vs. Hyuuga Hinata. Kiba groaned, he knew all too well what the older ninja thought of his gentle cousin. Neji was a talented fighter and Hinata was very very nervous. "Good luck," he whispered to the girl as she walked from his stretcher to the arena floor. Neji had already walked down. Kiba and Shino exchanged worried glances.

"Match 8 begin!" called the examiner. He stepped back. Neji smiled a not really happy smile before speaking.

"Before we begin this fight," Neji began "there is something I have to tell you, Hinata-sama."

Hinata came to herself in an instant. Tenten was speaking.

"So why are you here?" she glanced at Neji's battered form. He did not appear to be conscious. "From what I've heard him say you two don't get along." Hinata smiled sadly and hunched her shoulders.

"It's the Main Family, Branch Family thing. You know about our fathers and what his father did for mine?" Tenten nodded, "Well, he hates me for that. And so I never have a chance to talk to him. But I don't hate him. I admit it, I look up to him. He's so brave; he goes through life so lonely and bitter. He hides it well but I know he's grieving for his father inside still." The words stirred something inside Tenten. She had realized that something was wrong with Neji before, that he bore a huge sorrow inside of him. Hinata was still talking, "I think of him like my brother and he means so much to me. It really hurts that he hated me." She looked at Tenten. "Don't tell me that you're here just because he's your teammate. Girls always know better than that." Her voice gentled, "you like him don't you?" Tenten nodded. She did like Neji very much. She had liked him from when they were still at the academy. She had tried in her way to help Neji with his sorrow and had gotten a blank stare from his cold, pale eyes. He was the type of person who tried to carry all of his burdens all alone. He would never accept her help and he told her that when she offered.

"I'm worried about him, I know he shook that apathy of his but if it comes back… if he loses his will to live, the nurse said that he needs all the fight he has. He's fighting for his life now. He's got a hole all the way through his side, another in his shoulder, and numerous wounds in his back. He could die easily." Hinata burst into tears and Tenten patted her comfortingly on the back.

"He'll be ok. He's a fighter, you know that. He always fought hard no matter what he said." Hinata reached out a finger then hesitated. She traced the curse seal on Neji's forehead then gently and carefully put her hand over his heart. A small, slow, and irregular beat trembled under her fingers. She pulled her hand away before crumpling and sobbing quietly onto Tenten's shoulder. Tenten looked over the younger girl's head at the dark haired boy who meant so much to both of them. He wouldn't die, he couldn't. He would be all right, he would live. Hadn't Lee recovered from his injuries when he fought the sand ninja Gaara in the chunin exams? Hadn't Gaara just gone on to save his life? Neji would recover.

A small sound made Tenten look over; she did not see anything and looked back down at Hinata. Her tears were coming in a steady flow. Another noise made Tenten look at Neji more rapidly. Did his eyelid flicker or was it just her imagination playing tricks on her. Cautiously she felt Neji's heart beat. It was growing steadier and more regular.

"Hinata," the girl looked up, "look," she pointed to Neji as one of his eyes opened fully. Hinata gave a joyful squeak. Neji groaned slowly and quietly as though in great pain. It was the closest to acknowledging weakness that Hinata had every seen from her impassive cousin. He blinked again then looked at Tenten whose eyes shone with hope.

"Tenten," his voice came low and weak, "you're here," he started slightly, he had noticed the other girl.

Hinata felt awkward with the situation, she knew Neji probably didn't want her there and that Tenten would want to be alone with the boy she liked. Her cousin, at least, liked to be alone whenever possible.

"Hinata-sama," his voice startled her, she started toward the door and then moved back toward him.

"Neji, you're alive." He laughed weakly then gasped for breath. Tenten put her hand on his forehead worriedly.

"I'm not worth the trouble you appear to have spent watching over my bedside. Besides you're a member of the noble _Main Family_ while I'm only from the "worthless" Branch Family. I'm sure the Hyuuga ancestors would be shocked." In his voice was the ring of bitterness despite his light tone. Tenten looked at Hinata.

"Neji," she said firmly and most unlike her usual shy self, "the family divisions don't matter to me. They never have and they never will. You are my cousin; I don't care if half the family thinks you're worthless. You aren't worthless and you know it. And I haven't been dutifully watching your bedside, as I should have been. That was Tenten." Neji looked surprised, Hinata was normally so quiet. Hinata thought of the other time she had seen Neji look surprised. Then she had said that he was suffering from the Hyuuga system. He had tried to kill her but now he was in danger of_ his_ life. She needed to be more careful, any shock could hurt him. "I'm sorry, Neji. Please stay still, please." He obeyed, laying still on the bed.

"Hinata-sama, don't be so careful with me. I'm not about to just die. I'm harder to kill then that." He said mockingly. Then he shakily moved a hand to his forehead to brush hair out of his eyes. As his fingers touched the curse seal he paused.

"Your headband is over there," said Hinata, her voice full of mock scorn, "if you'd like to hide behind it again." Tenten looked really worried now. She was scared of a fight and how it could hurt Neji.

Neji surprised her by grinning suddenly, "I don't hide behind it at all, you know as well as I do that my part of the family all wear something over our foreheads. To do otherwise is to invite the Main Family to activate the curse seal. And no, I don't want you to leave. Where did you get that idea? 'You moved your eyes off toward the door, you are imagining walking out of it and leaving me here. I have seen a lot of things with this Byakugan of mine. I know what your thinking about'" it took Hinata a moment to realize that his repetition of the words he had spoken during the chunin exam preliminaries were a joke. The way he said them now was different, almost lighthearted. She began to comprehend just how much Neji had changed since then. Tenten sighed in relief and Neji turned to look at her again.

"Tenten, I have to admit, probably I owe you for watching over me. Otherwise Hinata-sama would have done who knows what." He smiled warmly at her. She felt herself blush; the smirk on Hinata's face grew perceptibly wider.

"Th-thank you," Hinata grinned even more broadly if that was possible.

"Did you and Hinata-sama switch places while I was unconscious?" queried Neji in a faint but joking tone, "she seems to have stolen all your guts." He adjusted himself then winced in pain. Tenten put her hand on his unhurt shoulder and looked down at him.

"Don't strain yourself. You almost died so please be a little more careful. I don't want you to get any more hurt. What would Guy-sensei say? That all of his students have a knack for getting hurt and that we need to train harder? Training is hard enough as is with out making it tougher." Neji looked amused. He lay still.

"Is there any food available? A hole through your side drastically increases your regenerative need and so I need to eat." Hinata shook her head,

"I'll go ask the nurse for some. And while I'm at it I may as well tell her that you're conscious." She skipped cheerfully out of the room. Neji looked shrewdly at the brown haired girl who remained.

"Tenten? Speaking of food, when I get out of here would you like to go for lunch sometime? After training?" Tenten paused.

"Neji, of course I will."

"Ooh, Neji and Tenten are going out on a _date_" Hinata walked back in, both Neji and Tenten blushed slightly. "The nurse is coming, she was right outside. But seriously you two are going out on a date? Then I'll have to leave the love birds alone." She waltzed out waving good-bye and chuckling. Neji watched her go.

"So Tenten, it's a date?" the girl laughed.

"Yeah, it's a date. Now perhaps you need to sleep?" he nodded.

"Yes nurse Tenten, I will obediently go to sleep." He closed his eyes. Tenten waited until she was sure that he was asleep before leaning over and lightly kissing his forehead where the curse seal was.

"I love you, Neji. Now take good care of yourself and get better soon." She slipped out of her chair and with many a backward glance walked to the door.

"Tenten, I don't think you remember that I sleep very lightly." The frail voice from the bed belonged to Neji. He had opened his eyes and was looking at her. He smiled affectionately at her, "But it's nice to know that, thank you for caring. I used to think that the only person who cared about me was dead. I admit to being wrong." He closed his eyes again as Tenten opened the door and with a quiet goodbye walked out of the room.


End file.
